In this video I discuss how YouTube fighting ad blockers is actually making ad blocking extensions and browsers more powerful, and how there is a long history of things like this happening on the inte...
Alright, so I watched the video so you guys don't have to. Here's a synopsis:
Youtube's ad blocking is going to backfire because:
It caused people to stop using crappy ad blockers that didn't even work with youtube to switch to effective ones that do.
Drawing attention to "good" browsers and ad blockers, increasing adoption -- including people that weren't using or aware of the existence of them in the first place
Increased support of the people making/maintaining ad blockers. Spite driven increase in donations, subscriptions to paid ad blockers, bug reports, etc.
Cites the Streisand effect.
Analogy of how prohibition led to stronger drugs, stronger booze, etc. If you tell people they can't do something, they're more likely to do it and get better at doing it.
Cites how Youtube's attempts to block ad blockers is breaking older embedded apps in smart TVs, chromecast, etc. Older or non-tech people are just more likely to stop using those rather than try to fix them -- and thus cut back on watching youtube.
Believes Youtube's actions are an indication the internet's "free with ads" model is dying -- they're getting desperate to maintain profitability.
It’s funny to me because I recently downloaded an app for my nvidia shield called smartTube which blocks ads and all that jazz. And I donated $10 to the dev. And posted to the git.
I only did this because of the recent headlines about YouTube policies changing. I don’t mind paying for things. But I will pay someone else out of spite if you charge me too much, pester me, or take away things like that were free.